Already Home
by AussieTurtle
Summary: Sometimes it's the people you depend on the most who tear you apart. The TMNT have been battling against the Shredder for months now, trying to stop him from turning all of NYC into his own mutant army. But the stakes are rising and the chances of getting out safely are diminishing. Its going to take a lot of trust guts and love to keep the brothers from breaking under the pressure
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This is an ALTERNATE UNIVERSE. Some elements from each universe of the TMNT multi-verse, but also some original-type elements will be involved. The guys are about 17 years old.**

 **Chapter One**

Raphael twirled his sai in his hands, his face set into a grim line as Donnie drove them near the warehouse. The Shredder, Oroku Saki, had taken hostages and warned the turtles that if they didn't come to save them, they'd become the newest members of his mutant army, with the aid of the mutagen he'd stolen from the kraang.

"It's obviously a trap." Leo had said.

"No duh." Raph had snorted back.

"So we need to proceed with absolute caution and vigilance." Leo had continued, as though Raph hadn't spoken, "This is a rescue mission. Not a fight."

He'd directed that last part at Raph, not that the red warrior cared. Of course he wanted to beat down at Shredder's goons. He snorted at the thought that Shredder couldn't get any more dishonorable – taking innocent people from their homes to try and coax them out. He shouldn't have bothered. Give him the time and the place, and he'd be there. He wasn't afraid of no foot ninjas.

"We're almost there." Don announced. He pulled the van into park in an alley and the turtles all jumped out. Leo's eyes were piercing as he scanned the surrounding area.

"It's quiet for a Friday night." He murmured, "There should be people everywhere, these bars bustling…"

Raph glanced around and, sure enough, Leo was right. There were hardly any signs of life in the bars and pamphlets floated eerily down the rundown, empty street like ghosts. Raph's gut pointed out something wasn't right, not like it had to. He already knew, just from the tenseness in the air. He frowned and twirled his sai again.

"Shredder has probably gotten the Purple Dragons to keep the streets quiet." Leo said. "The less movement there is here, the easier it will be for his ninja to spot us. If there was any doubt this was a trap before…" _It was gone now._

The four ninjas sunk into the shadows and they soared up the fire escape. From the roof, they could see that most of the apartment lights were off, the blinds closed over the windows that weren't already boarded up with old, rotten wood. Sale signs peppered down the rows of buildings, stating the economic depression that plagued this rundown side of the city.

"Remember," Leo hissed for the millionth time, "this is strictly a rescue mission."

"Yeah, yeah," Raph groused, "we got that the first hundred times, Leo." They glided over the rooftops like shadows and stopped just across from the selected warehouse. Raph pointed his sai, "Lookie what we have here." A well-dressed man was standing just outside the reach of the shadows of an alley; a kraang.

Leonardo's icy blue eyes swept over the area and various hand motions told them each where they were to go. Seamlessly, Raph and Don took the left side of the building. They pulled out their grappling hooks and connected it to the gutter of the warehouse before swinging over in synchronisation. They landed silently and snuck to the skylight of the building. They couldn't see any foot ninja yet, but that meant nothing. Tiger Claw was standing next to a group of twenty of so people, who all huddled together in fear. Fish Face wasn't far off, slinking around in his large mechanical legs, every now and then pulling out a knife and pointing it at the fearful group.

There were kraang bots without their human outer layer, guns in hands as they guarded their post. Large, thick, glass pipes covered a majority of the room, leading down to what the turtles recognised as the mutation machine.

"I swear," Raph hissed, "if I get my hands on those bastards…"

"This is a rescue mission, Raph." Don reminded, as though he would forget after having Leo bleating about it all night.

"Yeah, yeah," Raph muttered, "Let's just do this already."

They melded into the shadows once more and entered the building through a vent. They came out at a corner of the room and Raph looked to the opposite side. He couldn't see his brothers there, but knew they were.

"We know you are here, Turtles," Tiger Claw bellowed. "You might as well come out of hiding." When he received no response, he moved to a lever and pulled it down with a resounding _crack_. The room was suddenly filled with blinding white light. It blinded the turtles momentarily, but they had been raised to not rely on their sight. Raph sensed a shuriken coming at his head and he instinctively ducked before dodging to the beam on his left. He opened his eyes slowly.

The crowd of people below had started screaming, but they silenced when Tiger Claw pointed his gun at them.

"Surrender now, Turtles, or suffer the consequences!" Tiger Claw yelled to them.

They split into their positions. Raph followed Don down to the mutation machine, effectively blocking Tiger Claw and the innocents from it. Leonardo and Mikey jumped down and Leo deftly cut the rope holding them all captive. They spun around just in time to strike back at the Kraang bots who had been stupid enough to try and shoot them down.

Tiger Claw advanced on them and Raph lunged at him. "Get on it, Don!" he yelled as he struck at the large tiger before him. Don unslung his duffel bag and dug into it for the tools he needed to bring down the machine.

"You look tense, Cat-man," Raph taunted, "Is something wrong?"

Tiger Claw lunged a punch at Raph's jaw, which the warrior easily dodged. He used the momentum to spin kick at Tiger Claw's side but the assassin had already moved out the way and pulled out his gun. Raph used his sai to deflect the bullets and Tiger Claw changed tactics, throwing his guns aside and using his claws instead. He swiped at Raph's head and he ducked down and threw a hard fist to his lower abdomen. Tiger Claw grunted and took a step back to regain his breath.

"Ninja!" He bellowed as Leo and Mikey started ushering people outside, "Do not allow the prisoners to escape!"

Foot soldier rained down from the ceiling, various weapons in their hands.

"Raph, swap," Leo yelled.

Leo stabbed at Tiger Claw's leg and with a growl the big cat turned and sung at him. Raph joined Mikey's side and began to pummel mercilessly into foot bot after foot bot, making a path for Mikey and the civilians. One foot managed to nick his leg and with a roar of outrage, Raph struck him down with a blow to the head. The foot soldier fell to the ground, unconscious. The sound of sparks caught his attention momentarily and he glanced over to see Don backing away from the machine, bo staff in hand.

"Time to go!" Leo yelled.

"We must not allow them to escape!" Tiger Claw roared. "Master Shredder will not accept excuses!"

The sound of Kraang's guns blasting off increased. One Kraang pointed directly at Mikey's turned shell and Raph felt his heart plummet into his gut. "NO!" He jolted the gun up with a smack of his sai and the violet laser seemed to float through the air in slow motion, before crashing into one of the tubes full of mutagen.

"Shit," Raph cursed, just as the mutagen poured straight down onto the group of humans.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

The humans froze beneath the onslaught of molten ooze, their eyes wide in fear as they were covered in the glowing mutagen. Their screams echoed in the room as their skin began to ripple, changing to unnatural tints, and their bodies bending over it utter pain.

"Don," Leo yelled, "Get the van in here!"

The sound of his older brother's voice snapped Raph out of his daze. And it seemed to pull the enemies out of theirs, too. Raph struck the arm of a foot soldier and side kicked another that came at him. A kraang managed a shot at his shell and Raph winced, "Ya' better hurry, Donnie-boy!"

Don swung his bo, knocking back the foe that surrounded him and he lifted himself up into the air. He jumped off the back of one foot ninja and launched himself at the garage door. He slammed his fist onto the button and the van screeched into the room as soon as the door was cleared. "Mutant express!" he yelled.

Leo and Mikey ushered the group of people, still crying in pain as their bodies convulsed, toward the van as Raph helped them to try and keep the foot from attacking them. Tiger Claw advanced and Leo kept him busy as Mikey and Raph tossed person after person into the van – Raph counted five of them, two girls and three boys.

"Leo, come on!" Raph shouted as they got ready to slam the back door.

Leonardo struck at the lower side of Tiger Claw's arm before back flipping into the van, " _Drive_!"

The tires screeched as Don pulled them out of the warehouse and they tore down the street.

"We've got company," Don said.

"Mikey," Leo said.

"Got it!" Mikey opened the back doors of the van to take care of the uninvited party guests.

"Raph, help me with them." Leo said.

He picked up one of the girls, who whimpered at the touch. She had lime green skin, a large brown shell and bright blue eyes. She was a mutant turtle, like them. Leo put her into a seat and pulled a belt over her. Raph looked to the others. Of the five of them, one of them, a boy, had mutated into a tiger, while the other four were mutated into turtles – obviously from coming into contact with their DNA when they had been shoving everyone out of the door.

They turned a sharp left and Raph snapped into action, getting them all tied down wherever he could to keep them from flinging around the van as they drove.

"We've almost lost them," Don reported. He turned one more sharp left, headed straight for a seemingly thick brick wall. On the last second, it pulled up like a garage door and they tunnelled down into the sewers.

"What's going on?" Tiger-Boy asked, his voice desperate.

"That's a long story, Kid." Raph answered.

"Are… are you going to hurt us?" The boy whimpered.

Raph frowned at him and felt a spark of anger in his chest, "Why the fuck would you think that? We just saved your ass!" Tiger-Boy shrugged meekly. Raph swallowed his anger thickly and headed to the front of the van, "How are we going?"

"Good." Don grinned slyly, "That new entrance I installed should throw them off our trail."

"Whatta 'bout Mikey?"

"He'll double back and meet us at the lair." Leo said firmly, a line of worry etched into his face. Raph could tell it wouldn't ease 'till they were all back home, safe and sound.

Raph glanced back at the five new mutants and let out a sigh, "Is it just me, or are we losing less and less of these battles lately?"

"We got them out of there," Don pointed out, "Which isn't entirely a loss."

Raph snorted, "I don't even wanna think of what you think of a failure as, if ya'r willing to count this as a win." He gestured back to them, "They still got hit. We _failed_."

"Once Don figures out how to make retro-mutagen," Leo began but Raph cut him off in frustration.

"We go and un-mutate Shredder's army, yeah, yeah, sounds well and dandy," he snapped, "except it's been months and there ain't been no breakthroughs, no nothin'. Has it crossed your mind, Fearless, that maybe there just ain't a cure?"

"There has to be." Don said in a clipped tone that had Raph biting down on his tongue.

He clicked his tongue, "What d'ya think Splinter's gonna have to say when he sees our… guests?"

"He knew there was a possibility something like this would happen." Leo told him, "Our first priority was to get them out of the clutch of the Shredder, and if that means bringing mutants home, so be it. After all, it's not like there's anywhere else they can go. Leatherhead still doesn't trust himself not to go berserk, and we can't dump this onto April and Casey."

"He was probably expecting us to bring people home sooner, then, hey?" Raph murmured.

"He was probably hoping for it." Leo replied in a quiet tone, "It definitely beats out the alternatives."

Raph frowned and nodded. Shredder had been experimenting with the different technology he'd amassed – from Utroms, the Kraang and who knew who else – and through the last few months, those experiments were paying off for him. It was slow going, but his scientists had found a way to manipulate a serum which basically gave one the power of mind control.

"This stinks." Raph muttered.

"Yeah." Leo and Don agreed glumly.

Don had to bring the van topside to park it into the garage, and only after he shut off the engine they ushered the five people from the van. They shied away from their touches and only entered the elevator with hesitance.

"I want to go home." One of the turtle-girls murmured.

Raph felt a spark of sickness at the thought of how many others had wanted to go home, too. How many people had been ripped from their lives in the name of the Shredder? He would pay for it, Raph would make sure of that. When they filed out of the elevator, Splinter was waiting for them, Mikey by his side. The five mutants tensed at the sight of their Father and stayed strictly behind them.

Raph rolled his eyes and scoffed at them. "I'm gonna go take a shower. 'S been a long night." Splinter nodded his head in acknowledgement and Raph trotted off, not much feeling like having to explain their existence or the circumstance they were all now in to the five mutants.

He shut the bathroom door behind him. The bathroom was designed to fit their large turtle forms; the shower in the corner had been expanded sot it would be able to fit two or three of them in it at once, to make sure they had enough room to move around. They had a bath, too, but after growing so much, they no longer fit it in properly and that wasn't something they could fix easily. One wall was covered in mirrors, with kitchen counters pressed against them, and multiple old sinks and soap dispensers.

When they first moved in, after their home of ten or so years had been trashed by Baxter Stockman's mousers, the room had been full of old patchy mould and cockroaches as big as Raph's fist. It had taken a lot of effort to make the place liveable, and the fact Shredder could come in and take it all down so easily within minutes, between his machinery and his mutant army, had Raphael's blood boiling.

With a sigh, Raph switched on the hot water and stepped in, letting it roll over his tense muscles and wash away the stress that had built up in him during the day. His mind travelled to the five downstairs. They hadn't been captured by Shredder, which meant they wouldn't get brainwashed, which was definitely a win… but Shredder would just go on and grab others off the street. They were stuck in a loop and Shred-head was steering clear of them, making putting an end to him pretty damn impossible. Another sigh tumbled out the warrior's lips.

"What the shell are we gonna do?" Raph muttered to himself.

He finished washing himself and used his towel to pat himself dry before heading downstairs. The five mutants and the Hamato clan were in the lounge room, and Splinter was finishing off the ending of their story – how they came to be, who Shredder was, and the rest of the crap like that. The five were a lot more at ease now, though they were definitely still tense.

"So you have all lived down here, all your lives?" Tiger-Boy asked.

Splinter nodded his head.

The boy hesitated, "Are- Are we going to have to live down here, too, now?"

"I am afraid so," Splinter told him.

"I'm working on a retro-mutagen," Don supplied, "A substance that can undo the effects of the mutagen. Shredder had some, once, to use on Splinter but after he realised the devastating effects it would have on his army for if we were to obtain it, he burned all evidence of it – the labs, the research, the papers, the-." He cut off, but Raph was pretty sure the five knew what he meant. Everything, people included, were discarded of permanently.

"That's horrible." One of the girls, with brown eyes, said.

"Yeah, well," Raph said dismissively as he came around the lounge, "now ya's know who we are, who the shell are you lot?"

Leo shot him a mildly disapproving glance which Raph ignored.

Tiger-Boy was first to respond. "My name's Wyatt."

The two other boys spoke next, "Harold." "Caden."

Brown eyed girl was next. "I'm Katherine."

Then blue eyed girl, "Vanessa."

"Maybe we should get name-tags?" Mikey suggested with a half-smile. Raph whacked him backside his head. " _Ow_. What? I'm just _sayin_ '."

"Mikey has a point." Leo interjected. "If we're all going to be staying here, we need to learn each other's names. Name tags will be easier than having to repeat them fifty times."

"We will discuss the point in the morning." Splinter said, "It is getting late."

"I'd like to do check-ups first, if that's okay." Don said, "If worst comes to wear, it's best we be prepared."

"Little Donnie, the poet." Mikey cooed with an impish grin.

"Perhaps, Michelangelo, since you have such an abundance of energy, you will set up the bedding arrangements?" Splinter asked, and Mikey's smile fell.

"Hai, Sensei." He said grudgingly.

Raph grinned as he watched his brother high-tail for the cupboard of their spare blankets, pillows and mattresses. Don had the five mutants follow him to the infirmary and Raph set out helping Leo clear the lounge area for the bedding Mikey dumped in a pile. Working together, they managed to set it out quickly and made up one large bed of three mattresses pulled up close.

"They're not _all_ gonna sleep here, are they?" Mikey asked. They all knew their father as a stickler for tradition, and allowing girls and boys who didn't know each other to share a bed went against the traditionalist side of him.

"No." Splinter said. "Leonardo has already offered up his bed, and Donatello will be fine to use the day bed in his lab until a more suitable solution arises."

"Yeah, well, if they wanna share my room with me, I don't mind." Mikey laughed, receiving a tap of his father's cane on the back of his legs. "Joking, joking!"

Splinter shook his head and tutted. "I shall see you four in the morning for practice – _on time_ , if you would do me the honor."

"Hai, Sensei." The three brothers said, Leonardo going so far as to bow, earning a scoff from Raph. _Teacher's pet_.

Raph stretched his arms over his head and let out a dramatic yawn, "What he said."

And with that, he headed up the stairs to his own room, too. He still had no damn idea what they were gonna do about Shredder, or how they were going to deal with the five new mutants ('cause they all knew Don's retro-mutagen was slow going), but at the moment, he couldn't really give a crap. He was tired and aching from the earlier fight, and all he wanted was to sling himself over his hammock and go to sleep.

Whatever would come in the following weeks, would come, and he'd deal with it all then. Right now he just had to hope he and his brothers would be enough to put a stop to Shredder's plans.

TO BE CONTINUED...

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who reviewed the first chapter. The critique is welcomed!** :)


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